Secularization as Kenosis
Secularization as Kenosis Secularization as Kenosis
218 | postmodern condition and secularity a religious identity is in fact the richest form of secular life. Christianity thus has a guiding function in renewing our social constellation to a truly multicultural society. In a 2004 article, Vattimo relates the secularization of Western culture to the hatred felt in the Arab world for the Western lack of values. Whereas in earlier writings Vattimo stressed the universal meaning of secularization, he now has considerable sympathy for the ‘incomplete secularization’ of third world countries. 213 His concern is with what he calls ‘the hegemony of capitalism and American military Imperialism.’ Frustrated with the Bush administration in the United States and the presidency of Berlusconi in his own country, he goes as far as proposing a renewed understanding of communism. 214 In an essay on the renewal of communism, he writes: “Auch ich war ins Postmoderne Ende der Ideologien verwickelt”, 215 He stresses the need for a renewed understanding of communism. How can we understand this? Vattimo’s philosophy was entirely dedicated to overcome the ‘grand narratives’, and Communism seems to be the greatest narrative of them all. And by replacing the left-wing utopianism with a postmodern heterotopianism, his farewell to leftist idealism seemed complete. Vattimo explains his position as follows. The Wende of 1989 was not only the downfall of great narratives, it was also the instantiation of the great narrative of capitalism. Ironically, it was exactly in the victory of capitalism over communism that Marx’s theories on the concentration of capital turned out to be right. And it was precisely in the downfall of ideologies that capitalism really acquired an indomitable status that the left did not dare to contest. He writes: Wie kommt es, dass der Kapitalismus der sogenannten freien Märkte seine grössten Triumphe ausgerechnet jetzt feiert, da der sowjetische Staat abgedankt hat und der Kommunismus nicht mehr droht? Dass wir das Ende des Kalten Krieges bedauern müssen, da wir in immer heissere Kriege hineingetrieben werden? 216 The predominance of neo-liberalism, with its insistence on a global, free market economy, not Marxism, is the true heir of strong metaphysical thought. In the European Union, Vattimo sees the possibility for a third road, as an alternative to the American hegemony and its terroristic counterpart. The weakening of thought is not so much over, for Vattimo, but it needs to be applied more fully. The spread of neo-liberalism, the supposed naturalness of a free market economy, the military operations of the free countries, and the increasing control of governments over the private lives of their citizens, are – in Vattimo’s eyes – strong ideas that function in an objectivist discourse. Only Marxism and socialism can bring change to a Europe that will otherwise be subject to American hegemony. In a more encompassing meaning, the negative account of Weak Thought as a protest against any form of representation and hierarchic ordering of society is in severe crisis. As a model of such a radically flattened society, Vattimo points to Hardt 213 Gianni Vattimo, ‘Towards a twilight of values?’, in: Jérôme Bindé, editor, The Future of values: 21st century talks (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2004), 7–12. 214 Vattimo, Kommunist, 7–8. 215 Vattimo’s describes his conversion to communism as follows: “Da ich sehe, wie de ‘Entwicklung’, die der Markt garantieren soll, scheitert, muss einer wie ich, der nie Kommunist war (das gestehe ich), einer werden, um die Wahrheit der Marx’schen Prophezeihungen in corpere vili zu untersuchen.” Vattimo, Kommunist, 37. 216 Vattimo, Kommunist, 36.
secularization as kenosis | 219 and Negri’s idea of Empire. Contemporary, liberal society, to them is best characterized as an Empire. Its scope is global and not bound to nation states. The crucial difference, however, between historical empires and our current liberal Empire is that the former were disciplined by external force, whereas the latter, our consumer society is disciplined purely through spontaneous, affective identification of citizens with the Empire. 217 Vattimo agrees with the diagnosis of contemporary Western culture as an autodisciplined Empire. But he rejects the idea that this Empire can produce out of itself an emancipated, just society. According to Vattimo this is an impossibility. He speaks of an ‘. . . alte Sehnsucht nach der schönen Moralität, nach einer schönen Gesellschaft und Hegemonie.’ 218 As Vattimo sees it, the social theory of Hardt and Negri is too much caught up with the need to establish here and now, a utopian hegemony. His own sympathies remain with a more relativistic and plural society. All we can achieve in terms of a just, non-Utopian society is a balance between ‘. . . nicht allzu unterschiedlichen und tragfähigen Kräften’, which enables a society which allows its members to live out specific identities, without enmity. This live and let live approach, with a minimalization of the role of the state, better suits Vattimo’s philosophy of weakening. So it is fair to say that – with his preference for socialism and communism – Vattimo has made a significant shift. Vattimo is quite aware of this as he writes on his relation to the school of ‘pensiero debole’. His initial aversion against left wing idealism had its context in the violent degeneration of the left in 1968. Now, after the rise of global capitalism, Vattimo is willing to reconsider some of his earlier ideas. As a matter of fact it is possible that the initial, postmodern thinking of Vattimo was quite supportive towards the capitalist society that he now repudiates. The spontaneous, frivolous, avant-garde society Vattimo had in mind when he wrote The Transparent Society typically delegates everything to the free association of citizens. In fact there is neither a law nor a binding ethic, as Vattimo saw caritas – love – and the avoidance of suffering as sufficient guidelines for social behavior. The irony is that Negri and Hardt in 1994 already criticized him on exactly this point. They spoke of such an arrangement as an avoidance of politics. 219 The minimalization of politics as pursued by the postmodern ideal of plurality and tolerance, even caritas, fits remarkably well with the desires for a (neo)liberal consumer society and unbridled competition. The idea of a maximization of the public realm and a minimal state, which applies to both Rorty and Vattimo, 220 results in a remarkable paradox. This paradox is that the increasing horizontalization of power in postmodernism heightens the need for an absolute arbiter, who guards over the equality of all parties in the public realm. Thus relativism in a sense breeds dictatorship, as “the social state takes away any social dialectic that might constitute an actual civil society,” resulting in the autonomy of the political from the social. 221 Vattimo’s view of the role of information technology and mass media has drastically changed with his shift to communism. In The Transparent Society, he saw the emergence of an information society as genuine liberation. Now he has changed his mind about it, as he has realized that information technology 217 Vattimo, Kommunist, 24. 218 Vattimo, Kommunist, 26. 219 Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Labor of Dionysus. A Critique of the State-Form (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), 237. 220 A significant difference it seems to me between explicit postmodern liberalism and Vattimo’s idea of a transparent society is that, for Vattimo, social life ought to be governed by a substantial value; love. For Rorty, however, the only guideline is a negative criterion, the absence of suffering. 221 Hardt and Negri, Labor of Dionysus, 268–9.
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218 | postmodern condition and secularity<br />
a religious identity is in fact the richest form of secular life. Christianity thus h<strong>as</strong> a<br />
guiding function in renewing our social constellation to a truly multicultural society.<br />
In a 2004 article, Vattimo relates the secularization of Western culture to the hatred felt<br />
in the Arab world for the Western lack of values. Where<strong>as</strong> in earlier writings Vattimo<br />
stressed the universal meaning of secularization, he now h<strong>as</strong> considerable sympathy for<br />
the ‘incomplete secularization’ of third world countries. 213 His concern is with what he<br />
calls ‘the hegemony of capitalism and American military Imperialism.’ Frustrated with<br />
the Bush administration in the United States and the presidency of Berlusconi in his<br />
own country, he goes <strong>as</strong> far <strong>as</strong> proposing a renewed understanding of communism. 214<br />
In an essay on the renewal of communism, he writes: “Auch ich war ins Postmoderne<br />
Ende der Ideologien verwickelt”, 215 He stresses the need for a renewed understanding<br />
of communism. How can we understand this? Vattimo’s philosophy w<strong>as</strong> entirely dedicated<br />
to overcome the ‘grand narratives’, and Communism seems to be the greatest<br />
narrative of them all. And by replacing the left-wing utopianism with a postmodern<br />
heterotopianism, his farewell to leftist idealism seemed complete. Vattimo explains his<br />
position <strong>as</strong> follows. The Wende of 1989 w<strong>as</strong> not only the downfall of great narratives, it<br />
w<strong>as</strong> also the instantiation of the great narrative of capitalism. Ironically, it w<strong>as</strong> exactly<br />
in the victory of capitalism over communism that Marx’s theories on the concentration<br />
of capital turned out to be right. And it w<strong>as</strong> precisely in the downfall of ideologies that<br />
capitalism really acquired an indomitable status that the left did not dare to contest. He<br />
writes:<br />
Wie kommt es, d<strong>as</strong>s der Kapitalismus der sogenannten freien Märkte seine grössten<br />
Triumphe ausgerechnet jetzt feiert, da der sowjetische Staat abgedankt hat und der<br />
Kommunismus nicht mehr droht? D<strong>as</strong>s wir d<strong>as</strong> Ende des Kalten Krieges bedauern<br />
müssen, da wir in immer heissere Kriege hineingetrieben werden? 216<br />
The predominance of neo-liberalism, with its insistence on a global, free market economy,<br />
not Marxism, is the true heir of strong metaphysical thought. In the European<br />
Union, Vattimo sees the possibility for a third road, <strong>as</strong> an alternative to the American<br />
hegemony and its terroristic counterpart. The weakening of thought is not so much<br />
over, for Vattimo, but it needs to be applied more fully. The spread of neo-liberalism,<br />
the supposed naturalness of a free market economy, the military operations of the free<br />
countries, and the incre<strong>as</strong>ing control of governments over the private lives of their citizens,<br />
are – in Vattimo’s eyes – strong ide<strong>as</strong> that function in an objectivist discourse.<br />
Only Marxism and socialism can bring change to a Europe that will otherwise be subject<br />
to American hegemony.<br />
In a more encomp<strong>as</strong>sing meaning, the negative account of Weak Thought <strong>as</strong> a<br />
protest against any form of representation and hierarchic ordering of society is in severe<br />
crisis. As a model of such a radically flattened society, Vattimo points to Hardt<br />
213 Gianni Vattimo, ‘Towards a twilight of values?’, in: Jérôme Bindé, editor, The Future of values: 21st<br />
century talks (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2004), 7–12.<br />
214 Vattimo, Kommunist, 7–8.<br />
215 Vattimo’s describes his conversion to communism <strong>as</strong> follows: “Da ich sehe, wie de ‘Entwicklung’, die<br />
der Markt garantieren soll, scheitert, muss einer wie ich, der nie Kommunist war (d<strong>as</strong> gestehe ich), einer werden,<br />
um die Wahrheit der Marx’schen Prophezeihungen in corpere vili zu untersuchen.” Vattimo, Kommunist,<br />
37.<br />
216 Vattimo, Kommunist, 36.